1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is usable in the field of drying devices which are specially compatible with conveying systems which can carry a multitude of different types of articles thereon. The present invention is adapted to be positioned about a conveyor to define a channel therethrough to allow conveyor to carry articles therein for drying and then to allow them to be exired. The conveyors can be of a variety of configurations including rollers, spools, chains or the like.
Although the present invention is usable with a great number of different types of articles traveling upon conveyors which must be dried, this configuration is specifically usable with egg conveying systems where eggs are arranged in rows upon a conveyor and are washed at a specific location. After the eggs exit the washing chamber, it is desirable that the eggs be dried immediately and the drying apparatus of the present invention can be used for that purpose. Also the present invention is particularly usable for drying of trays, racks and other carton-type configurations normally used in the fields of poultry, bakery related fields and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most of the prior art configurations merely direct the air downwardly directly from nozzles or other similar air directing devices onto the materials and conveyor thereunder. This airflow is rather turbulent and extremely noisy. Also this airflow has a tendency to be somewhat erratic. These problems are overcome by the present design wherein airflow is achieved in a somewhat laminar manner due to the unique configuration of the airflow control means of the present invention. With most prior art configurations, the air is merely directed toward the conveyor with no specific control. These standard blower-type configurations do not use the specific channeling advantages which are apparent from the configuration of the drawing means of the present invention.